Gateway Post
P2244B
From: New Zealand | North Island | Bay of Plenty Region | Ōpōtiki
Curatorial Section: Oceanian
| Native Name | Amo |
| Object Number | P2244B |
| Current Location | Collections Storage |
| Culture | Maori |
| Provenience | New Zealand | North Island | Bay of Plenty Region | Ōpōtiki |
| Period | Te Huringa I Period |
| Date Made | 1800 - 1900 CE |
| Section | Oceanian |
| Materials | Wood | Pigment |
| Description | An amo (bargeboard support post) made of one piece of wood. One side is decorated with four curved wheku (carved face that depicts an ancestor) figures on one half, with the other half being the side of a human figure decorated in puwerewere (spider) and Whakaironui Whare-pūngāwerewere (house of the spider) spirals. The other side of the amo is undecorated. An amo is a bargeboard support post on the front of a wharenui (meeting house) or waharoa (gateway). These posts are both functional and symbolic, carved with ancestral figures and motifs representing tribal identity and spiritual beliefs. As noted by the collector, William O. Oldman, this amo was part of a wharoa (gateway) at a pā near Ōpōtiki. |
| Length | 238 cm |
| Width | 54 cm |
| Credit Line | Purchased from W. O. Oldman; Subscription of Herbert L. Clark in memory of Edward W. Clark, 1911 |
| Other Number | 21393 - Dealer's Number | 10 - Other Number |
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